Burning Nightmares
by ThunderMastery24
Summary: -Sometimes, a person's nightmares can take on all manner of malevolent horrors, designed to wreak havoc upon the sufferer's mind. NaLu. One-Shot.
**Fairy Tail**

 _ **Read At Your Own Discretion**_

 **(Possible Spoilers)**

 **Edit: June 4th, 2016 - Details at the end.**

The flames were suffocating. No matter where the blonde looked, no matter where she ran, the infernal fires would be there.

"How?" The Celestial Spirit Mage croaked. "How could _he_ be responsible for this...destruction?"

As Lucy Heartfilia trudged through the rubble around her, all she could see were the crimson and orange colors swirling upwards before turning into obsidian smoke.

Horrible coughs were wretched from the flaxen beauty as she breathed in the smog. Covering her mouth with her hand, she glanced around. She looked anywhere and everywhere for a sign of life. A scintilla of movement. A cough or a groan. To her dismay, she couldn't hear anything aside from the crackling of the flames.

Unfortunately for her, a sound was heard. but it wasn't friendly in the slightest. It was the noise of a great beast flapping their wings.

Gazing up at the sky with tear-streaked features and a splintering heart, she saw _him_. Or rather, what remained of him.

The vermillion scales comprised the creature's hide. The fires surrounding it only providing to its macabre appeal as it added a deathly glow to the texture. Its eyes, which were previous onyx with flecks of verdant in the irises and full of love and loyalty and childish glee, were no more. What resided in those now fiery ruby spheres was only hatred and cruelty. A certain mercilessness shone in its depths.

The creature's mouth, which was once full of ebullience and optimism, now contained something much darker. The beast's mouth was curved upwards into a contemptuous sneer as it regarded everything below it with distaste.

Most of all, it shattered the Stellar Mage's heart to see her friend in such a state.

"Natsu?" She murmured. Her voice broke on each syllable. New tears brimmed her eyes. "What happened to you?!" She shouted, her voice trembling with rage. "You, someone who constantly believed in your _Nakama_?! You, who strived to protect his friends from anyone who would attack them?! You, the happiest person I know?!"

She thrust her left hand into the sky. The one that possessed her pink guild mark. "What happened to the Fairy Tail Wizard who became one of my best friends?! What happened to the man that I fell in love with?!"

The demon spoke. The voice wasn't Natsu Dragneel's though. The voice was scratchy and as menacing as his appearance.

"The person who you fell in love with?" The beast echoed before letting loose a malicious laugh that made the hairs on Lucy's arms stand up as her skin crawled. "Whomever that person was, he is deceased now. No more."

"No!" Lucy shrieked. Her voice was raw with emotion. "I _refuse_ to believe that!"

"Such a naïve little girl." The creature snarled. "You fail to believe me?" Flames began to gather in his mouth. "Do not fret mage, you will soon join your beloved."

He let loose the conflagration in his jaws.

* * *

Natsu opened his eyes, his breathing ragged and his eyes widened. He had broken out in a cold sweat.

 _Not again._ He thought.

Ever since the battle with Tartaros ended and he had gone on his year-long journey with Happy, he would have the same nightmare over and over and _over_ again. The demon that had overtaken him would appear. It would have a tendency to vary. The one constant though would be how the creature would always end up harming the woman currently sleeping in his arms.

Sometimes, the demon would appear as a grand draconian beast and unleash a massive fireball to consume his friends. Sometimes it would appear as a humanoid version of him. The only difference being the horns protruding from either side of the Fire Dragon Slayer's skull. The pseudo-form of himself would trail flames up and down Lucy's body.

It would be excruciatingly slow and just as painful.

It would trail up and down the blonde's arms, burning the skin. Sometimes the demon would hasten the torture and cause the fires to envelop Lucy until she was nothing more than a skeleton.

The image made Natsu want to retch.

"Natsu?" The aforementioned blonde murmured sleepily. She cracked an eye open. "Something wrong?"

The salmon-haired male faked a smile. "Don't worry about it Lucy," He lied. "It's nothing."

"If you say so." Lucy said disbelievingly, obviously not falling for Natsu's deception but not pushing either. "If you want to tell me though, I'll be ready to listen."

The false smile gained a semblance of honesty.

 _How'd I get so lucky?_ He thought.

As he watched her fall asleep, he wondered where'd he be without her. His features calcified at the thought. He hoped he would never find out what he would do. He had already lost Igneel twice and thought Lisanna Strauss was killed for the longest time before stumbling upon her in Edolas.

And if he lost Lucy Heartfilia…

Natsu shuddered at the prospect of going on knowing that his best friend and someone he cared deeply for perished.

With a sigh, the salmon-haired male smiled faintly at the woman in his arms.

"I promise Luce," Natsu started as he pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. "I won't let _anyone_ hurt you."

Before he descended into sleep, he murmured one last thing, the words swept away into the night.

"I love you."

 **Author's Notes: Inspired by Yaushie's art which can be found by using this link post/110294245994/nobody-asked-for-this-nobody-wanted-this-but. Anyway, enjoy!**

 _ **Originally Added: April 22nd, 2016.**_

 **Edit: So, I tried using the previous link for the artwork, but it didn't seem to be working so have this link instead:**

 **http colon slash slash yaushie dot tumblr dot com slash post slash 110294245994 slash nobody-asked-for-this-nobody-wanted-this-but**


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